Anglesey ex-deputy head banned from teaching after relationship with 15-year-old boy

Meirion Williams was working at Ysgol y Borth when he took the teenager to secluded locations and allowed him to stay at his home

Meirion Williams was a deputy headteacher on Anglesey when he had an inappropriate relationship with a boy

A former deputy headteacher was banned from teaching in Wales after an alleged relationship with a teenage boy from another school.

The alleged "inappropriate sexual relationship" lasted for six months in 2003 when Meirion Owen Williams was 38 and deputy head of Ysgol y Borth, a primary school in Anglesey, and the boy was 15.

What had happened was unacceptable professional conduct, a disciplinary hearing of the General Teaching Council for Wales ruled at Ewloe in Flintshire yesterday.

Chairman Steve Powell said Mr Williams had accepted that he had taken the boy to secluded locations and allowed him to stay at his home. Written evidence from the teacher had contained inconsistencies.

Mr Williams, who graduated in 1988 at the then Bangor Normal College, had taught at Llanfair P.G. before being appointed deputy head at Ysgol y Borth in 1999.

After a day-long hearing he was banned from teaching permanently in any school in Wales.

Mr Powell said: "Mr Williams's conduct is so serious he shouldn't have the right to apply for restoration to the register at any future time."

Mr Williams chose not to attend but the hearing was told he denied the allegation. "He denied it was in any way sexual - and insisted that he was unaware of the age of the boy", said Louise Price, the presenting officer.

"The difficulty is there is a conflict of evidence between Mr Williams and 'Person A' (the boy)," she added.

"It's essentially one word against the other."

The panel agreed that the boy, now in his mid-twenties, was a vulnerable witness and that his evidence should be heard behind closed doors.

Mrs Price quoted from documents which suggested that the boy, from the Dolgellau area, would sometimes stay overnight at the teacher's home and had visited a pub which was frequented by gay people. Mr Williams had insisted that they had not shared a bed.

The presenting officer said Person A had been a credible witness and candid about what happened and had taken time off work to give evidence.

Mr Williams had claimed there was a grudge. At first he denied a trip to Lake Vyrnwy with the boy but later admitted it could have taken place. He also admitted having a relationship with a boy of 17 in 2005.

Mrs Price said "it was more likely than not" that Mr Williams had a sexual relationship with Person A. It had a long term negative effect on the young man.

She said a police decision not to pursue the case should be disregarded because they would require a higher standard of proof.

The panel heard that Mr Williams had been regarded by colleagues and parents as an excellent teacher. He had changed his Facebook preferences so his profile was no longer open to under 20s.

The chairman said: "His actions clearly affected a pupil not only at the time but on an ongoing basis. He's not shown any insight into his failings nor expressed regret, the conduct was deliberate and took place over several months. The committee believes there is a significant risk of the registered teacher repeating the behaviour."

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Mark Thoma

Liverpool-born Mark joined the Daily Post in January 2014 after seven years as editor of its Merseyside sister title the Liverpool Post. He started out as a weekly news reporter on Wirral Newspapers, and spent seven years at the Daily Post and Liverpool Echo. He was The Press Association's regional correspondent for North Wales, Merseyside and Cheshire from 1983 to 1997, before returning to the ECHO as deputy news editor. He has won a number of journalism awards, including the UK Press Gazzette Regional Reporter of the Year award, and in 1993 wrote a book on the James Bulger murder.